I Didn't Try
by surrealist-notions
Summary: Recount of the day Katniss and Gale saw the boy and girl running through the woods. Just a one-off.


**I'd been thinking of writing this for awhile. I used to be a writer on fanfic a few years back but i stopped. When i wrote this my old fanfiction days came back into mind. So i thought i'd upload it.**

**I'd be nice to know what you guys think, constructive criticism is welcome. Let me know what you guys think.**

**And may the odds be ever in your favor. **

The dim light from outside was just enough to give the room a bluish glow as I opened my eyes. Prim was next to me with her arms curled around me. I slowly take a deep breath as I try and forget the dream I had the night before, the same one I have every night. I lift Prims tiny arms from around me and cover her in blankets before I get up. She looks so peaceful in her sleep.

Outside it looks to be blooming into a bright sunny day. It was early, about five in the morning, but people were out. Men were on their way to the mines where they wouldn't be back until tonight, their wives and children watching them go and hoping it wasn't the last time.

How I wish I could be watching my dad right now.

I take the time to do my hair in a quick braid before I put on my father's hunting jacket. The jacket was big on me, but it gave me the comfort I needed to get through the days. Prim had left some goat cheese out for me, and I put that in my pocket.

I glance at my mother sleeping by the fireplace, her face still disturbed even in her dreams. I scowled at her like I always did. She wasn't my mother anymore. She was there, but she wasn't. I knew that when Prim would wake up she would go over to my mother and rouse her, but mother would continue sleeping for as long as she could so she didn't have to face the day ahead.

Every day was a challenge for her, or so she made it. She wasn't providing for the family. She wasn't in the woods all day making sure we had something to eat tonight. She just sat there, and no matter how much Prim begged her, she didn't budge to come from her comatose state.

The air is cold on my face and hands but I ignore it. I nod to the miners that walk past, and they nod back. They all still have the dust they accumulated from work yesterday still grimed into their skin, but that was the way it was. Once you worked in the mines, you never got clean.

I listened to the familiar hum of the fence to see if it was on. It wasn't. District twelve hardly ever got power, but the fence was sometimes on. I slid under the hole and into the woods, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Now I could be myself.

I grabbed my bow and arrow out from the place I kept them and walked without making sound to the rock where I usually waited for Gale at. I shot a rabbit on the way, the first game of the day. I made out the rock from a distance and could see Gale already there. Gale was my hunting partner, my ally, and my best friend. He had lost his father in the same mining explosion that I lost my father in, and he too, had a family full of hungry mouths to feed.

"Catnip." He said, nodding towards me, using my nickname. I smiled a true smile. Gale was the only one to ever see these rare smiles.  
>"Gale." I said. I sat down next to him and pull out Prims cheese.<br>"Ah, Prim. Are you going to give her another lesson on hunting anytime soon?" Gale asked, taking some of the cheese and glancing at me.

I stared into the distance.  
>"No, she doesn't have the hunting skill. She's got her mother's hands, a healers. I got dads hands, hunters." I said without looking at him. I had tried to teach Prim to hunt, but she never wanted to go further into the woods than with the fence in view. And when we did end up shooting something, she cried and begged me to help it. She just didn't have the stomach.<p>

We sit in silence for some time, which is good for us. We get more game that way and the feeling of just having someone there is enough for us both. The woods come to life with noises and I manage to shoot a few more rabbit and Gale's traps would be getting a lot of other game.

"Hunger Games are coming up." Gale says quietly, more to himself then anyone. I narrow my eyebrows.  
>"Really? I hadn't realized." That was sarcasm. The Victors tour had only ended a few months ago, but the reality of it all never went away. The Capitol made sure we never forgot.<p>

"Prim's last year of not being in the ballot." Gale said. This made my heart drop. I knew this. I couldn't not know this. But the thought of my innocent little sister, being thrown in the arena with blood hungry careers and whatever the game makers had planned, was enough to make me feel sick.

"She'd be one name in thousands, Gale." I say firmly, and he left it at that.

We go back to silence, and by now the sun has come out and morning is here. Prim would be awake now, probably trying to get mother to wake up or playing with Buttercup. Either way, I knew she would be safe.

The birds in the trees are singing full volume today, and it's nice just sitting and listening to them while we divide up game between us. Gale has caught four rabbits and three squirrels in his traps and I have shot five rabbits and six fish in the nets that I have in the lake.

We're just dividing the last of the fish when the birds go silent. One bird sand a loud high pitched tune, like a warning call. I look at Gale as he looks up at me, and then our heads turn to the left as we see what's going on.

There was a girl and a boy, running like their lives depended on it. Their clothes were tattered and ripped, eyes black around the rims from sleep deprivation, but by the looks of them they were from the capitol. The girl saw me. She looked into my eyes and hers widened.  
>"HELP!" She screamed, but it was too late.<p>

One moment the sky was clear, and the next there was a massive hovercraft. I felt numb as I watched the net drop down and grab the girl and drag her up, quick as an elevator. The boy was shot with some sort of spear; it went right through his body. He went limp and they dragged him up as well.

We heard the girl scream once, and then the hovercraft disappeared, and the woods fell silent again.

The birds even started singing again.

I looked at Gale, and he looked at me. I hadn't realized but I was holding my breath. I let it out, and tried to breathe again, but it was hard. I kept looking into the sky, thinking they were coming back for us.

Gale grabbed me and held me tight, but it didn't do anything. I was shaking so hard.  
>"It's okay, Katniss. It's okay. They're gone." He said, squeezing me and trying to calm me down.<p>

"They were so close. We could have helped them if we were quick enough!" I cry, and Gale lets go of me. He looks me in the eyes.

"We couldn't do anything, Katniss. If we had of helped them, we would have been taken as well." He said, and I knew what he was saying. Without us, our family had nothing. If we had of helped them, we weren't the only ones in danger.

"Let's get out of here." I say, and I take a deep breath. I grab my game bag and walk a little too fast back to the fence and slide under without even testing to see if it was on. Luckily it wasn't.

We went to the hob but I let Gale do most of the haggling and bargaining. He gave me half of what we had left and grabbed my shoulders.

"Listen, Katniss. We couldn't do anything. We would've ended up just like them." It seemed that he wasn't just saying this for my benefit. He was thinking the same thing. And I realized then that this day was going to stick with us forever.

"See you tomorrow." I said and hugged him awkwardly before I turned away and walked to the place I called home.

"Katniss!" Prim jumped up excitedly as I walked through the door. She stopped in her tracks.

"Something's wrong. What's wrong, Katniss?" She asked, her face was terrified. I realized I must look like a mess.

I couldn't tell her. She would ask too many questions. And what if she asked that question that I couldn't even answer myself?  
>Why didn't you help them?<p>

I couldn't handle that.

"Katniss?" She asked again. I turned away and composed my face.  
>"Nothing, Prim. Help me prepare dinner." I said, and she hugged me. She couldn't see through my fake smile.<p>

Mother was in her chair next to the fireplace, just like ever. I didn't even acknowledge her when I walked past, but she didn't acknowledge me. Prim helped me prepare dinner as she talked about her day and I nodded and chipped in at the right moment, but my mind was not there.

Later, when I had finished tucking Prim into bed and I was the only one awake, I let my guard down and my façade down. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes, and I let them fall.


End file.
